1 week Ago
Senate Republicans will go into the 2025 legislative session next month with three priorities: Work toward a safer Washington, an affordable Washington and a better future for our children. Most of the policy and budget proposals we will offer will check at least one of those boxes. When it comes to improving the lives of our children, K-12 education is at the top of the list.
Legislators were allowed to begin “pre-filing” bills for 2025 on the first Monday of December, and the proposals put on the table by Senate Republicans already include several K-12 bills. Senate Bill 5007 is focused on supporting students who are chronically absent and at risk of not graduating high school. Students are considered “chronically absent” if they miss 10% or more of their school days for any reason.
The Senate unanimously passed a version of this proposal midway through this past legislative session, but the House budget committee sidelined it for no apparent reason. The argument for this bill is the same as before: Students who are struggling to perform academically at grade level are at risk of falling so far behind their class that they are at risk of not graduating with their peers, or even at all. I’m aware that some in the education community and Legislature seem to think the definition of education should cover a lot of territory that rightfully belongs to parents first.
In that sense the “necessary supports” mentioned in SB 5007, such as connecting chronically absent students with behavioral-health services, or seeing that they are fed and clothed appropriately, may raise some eyebrows. That said, I believe conservative-minded people can agree about the importance of regular school attendance. It seems both more efficient and more compassionate to try moving a struggling student onto a more productive path now, as it could mean one less struggling adult to deal with later.
Let’s also consider for a moment that the parents of chronically absent students may themselves be absent — or have run out of ideas for addressing that much absenteeism. In those cases, an assist from the school may be welcomed by the parents. As a strong supporter of parental rights who has heard horror stories about parents being undermined by school staff members, I would not have filed this bill if I thought it would create new opportunities for such inappropriate behavior, but to do nothing is unacceptable.
SB 5008 is about identifying students' individual academic needs and monitoring their academic progress and growth. It would do this by basically requiring the superintendent of public instruction to help public schools and school districts with funding for the necessary assessment, diagnostic, and learning tools. SB 5009 would bring some common sense to the student transportation system.
After seeing a full-size school bus transporting only two children, I learned that school districts have no flexibility — money for student transportation can’t be used for a smaller vehicle that costs less and is also friendlier to the environment. The Senate and House passed versions of this bill during the 2024 session, but couldn’t iron out the differences, so we’re going to make another run at getting this sensible policy change to the governor’s desk. All three of these bills have bipartisan support already, as the Democratic chair of the Senate education committee joined me in prefiling them.
Other senators will have the opportunity to sign on as co-sponsors when the 2025 session begins Jan. 13. Now for an idea that would do much to put our K-12 system on a better path, even though it would take effect far above the classroom level: Abolish, as an independently elected position, the office of the superintendent of public instruction.
This office — OSPI for short — was included in the document known as the 1878 Washington constitution. It was carried forward into the 1889 constitution that guides our state now. Doing away with this office means amending the constitution, and no one should take that lightly.
There’s a reason changes to the constitution require not only a two-thirds majority vote in each chamber of the Legislature but also must be approved by Washington voters. This appears to be a time when Governor-elect Bob Ferguson and I agree. The independent OSPI needs to go, and the education agency should become part of the governor’s cabinet.
There would be a secretary of education the same way we have a secretary of health and a secretary of corrections. It’s not a new concept. Former Gov.
Christine Gregoire proposed it in 2011, and members of the Senate and House filed the necessary legislation that session. The Senate version received a committee hearing, but the former Democratic lawmaker who was superintendent of public instruction at the time was strongly opposed. According to a recent news report, the state’s largest teachers’ union was among those pushing back against the 2011 legislation.
No wonder the bill never came to a vote. What’s different today? Try a combination of the classroom closures brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the refusal by Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal to even admit that closing classrooms caused significant learning loss among Washington students, and his insistence that no one should pay attention to the standardized test scores which confirm the learning loss Reykdal denies. Also, Washington parents are asserting themselves to a new degree.
Of the six citizen initiatives submitted to the Legislature nearly a year ago, the parental-rights measure received the second-highest number of voter signatures. Legislators wisely enacted I-2081 during the 2024 session. While parents who are looking for accountability should begin with their local school board and administrators, there is no getting around the idea that when a state’s K-12 agency is part of the governor’s cabinet, the governor also becomes accountable for the implementation of education policies enacted at the state level.
Reportedly, Reykdal — himself a former Democratic lawmaker — also supports the idea of turning the office he holds into an appointed position. We’ll see if that is the case when the necessary legislation is filed. In the meantime, I’ll paraphrase a sensible argument the Washington Policy Center offered in 2011.
If the elected superintendent of public instruction is replaced by an appointed secretary of education, and problems arise with public education, voters would know the solution lies with the governor. Knowing that voters are watching, it would then fall to the governor to deal with the situation, using his or her power to appoint a new education secretary if necessary. That kind of change can’t happen when the superintendent of public instruction is only accountable every four years.
Like the bills targeting absenteeism, academic assessments and school transportation, having more accountability at the top will make the K-12 system better, and with it a better future for Washington’s children. ••• Sen. John Braun of Centralia serves the 20th Legislative District, which spans parts of four counties from Yelm to Vancouver.
He became Senate Republican leader in 2020..
